Terran : Space Marine
by SOG-Karimi
Summary: A tale in the life of Alec Jufairi , a battle hardened marine and the choices he makes.
1. Chapter 1 : The Landing

The fleet of dropships passed through the air with but a mere hum, above the broken landscape of the desert planet. Inside the twelfth and final dropship was squad 110 lead by Major Alec Jufairi.  
  
"A routine flight, meh, a routine flight in a routine war followed by routine death. That's the one truth of this war" thought Alec to himself gloomily. He put his back against the hard metal chair and surveyed the inside of the dropship. It was not much, and was meant for little more than the quick launch and extraction of ground units. Due to the fact that many had to be produced to move the Terran army, luxury was not a large factor in the design of these ships.  
  
Alec's squad consisted of a 3 men other than him; the team medic was on another dropship. He felt his muscles relax as he picked up the bottle next to him and took a quick gulp of the bitter drink; with a grimace he threw the bottle in the trash can near him.  
  
He was not old but not young either, in his mid thirties he had seen more than his share of death and survived to live on, sometimes by quick thinking and at times by sheer luck. Alec's marine suit began to tighten on him; he took off his gloves and rested his forehead on his sweaty palm. His brown hair now had streaks of gray, most accumulated from lack of sleep.  
  
Alec looked up with a sigh at the men surrounding him , one was wearing steel rimmed glasses and had used some form of hair gel to keep his hair spiky and straight, the young man was sitting on his seat with a relaxed grin , it was clear to Alec that this man was a rookie. The two other men Alec recognized as Dukan Flexi a siege tank driver and James Mirkan a goliath rider.  
  
They had fought with Alec before but he was never very close to them, speaking to them only when necessary, Alec kept to himself and liked the way things were so far. After a while faces began to blur together and it became harder to distinguish between who came and who went.  
  
The lighting was weak in the drop ship; four metal chairs were against the wall on one side four on the other with a door leading to the hangar on his side and a door leading to the captain's room on the other. One light was hanging from the ceiling moving swaying with the ships motion, jarred a few times as the plane was hit by a strong air current.  
  
Alec noticed the young man looking at him, and looked up to face him. Through the lighting he could see the young man was grinning at him. "Damn, this boy can't be more than eighteen" thought Alec to him "What are they doing sending people this young out here? Have they run out of adults?" he questioned himself angrily.  
  
"Hey, are you the leader here?" spoke up the young man.  
  
"Yea, whats your name?".  
  
"Mathew but my friends call me Mat".  
  
"So Mathew how old are you?".  
  
"18, next month".  
  
"18! God, they are running out of proper soldiers ! Ever fought before?".  
  
"No but I've been through training and I aced it, im a vulture driver by the way".  
  
"Training doesn't do diddly squat hell you can take training and-".  
  
"MARINES - We have landed move out".  
  
Everyone looked up from their seats at the intercom above the seats, the cabin shuddered as the ship landed with a thud. They all stood up and checked their equipment, "We are just reinforcing defenses r-r-right? Routine mission no danger right?" asked Mathew. "Quite right, routine mission." replied Alec gloomily, remembering what he was considering earlier. He picked up his steel gauss rifle from the seat next to him, held it in both hands and took a deep breath, "Here we go " Alec thought to himself as the door to the hanger slid open and everyone walked through. 


	2. Chapter 2 : Aldurad

Alec closed down his marine helmet as a gust of wind carried the hot desert sand onto his face. Blinking the sand out of his eyes, he adjusted his weapon again and prepared to exit the hangar through the large double doors at the end. The hanger was of a reasonable size, it had grimy metal tiling and bright lights hanging from the ceiling.  
  
Inside was his squadron; each member getting into their specialized vehicle and preparing to move to Aldurad.City of the sand as it was called by the former Protoss colonizers, it had been recently won by the Terran army and some forces were sent to provide additional defenses for Aldurad at least until the city was well fortified. There were rumors of a Zerg army moving nearby but no colonies have been attacked recently so all was progressing as planned.  
  
Dukan Flexi climbed into his siege tank, and the hanger began to shake as the powerful machine powered up. James Mirkan hurriedly climbed into the Goliath and put on his special gas mask, he nodded at Alec to show that he was ready and sat back in his seat awaiting orders. As for Mathew he managed to activate the Vulture but was shivering in his seat, he gave Alec a nervous thumbs up and rocked back and forth steadily.  
  
"All right gentlemen, lets get ready. We have landed now in the middle of Aldurad; incase you haven't been briefed earlier it is a new colony that we recently captured from the Protoss. It lies at the base of a mountain which means our backs are covered.There are twelve other squadrons here that will be spread out around the base. All we have to do is go to the front of the colony where it is most vulnerable to attack, camp there for a week and then go back home. Simple and quick, we have been told of a large Zerg force moving in this direction but unless we see any hostile activity there isn't anything to worry about. Clear?" After speaking Alec looked around and was not surprised to find Mathew raising his hand.  
  
"Yes?" said Alec in an impatient tone.  
  
"What about the areas near the mountain aren't we susceptible to an attack from the back?".  
  
"Yes but that has been prepared for, the twelve squadrons are separated, ten defending the front two defending the area near the mountain. Anything else?".  
  
"No, sir".  
  
"Good, let's haul ass" said Alec with a grin.  
  
They exited the dropship and proceeded north bound to the gates of Aldurad. "Why they bothered to capture this place is beyond me" thought Alec to himself and he looked around the grim colony, there were ruins of the former Protoss buildings and some new buildings set up by the Terrans, mostly white buildings, the city was surrounded by walls on all sides, but most of the walls were cracked and broken from the Terran assault.  
  
The city was dusty and of a small size , thus most of the dropships had to land outside the colony. "One hundred units, humph, the confederacy must not be planning to control this place for long if rumors of a Zerg force are true." After a short walk along the dusty roads (or at least Alec assumed they roads since they were the least sandy surface to walk on) they made it to a white gate with two metallic doors closing off the city to the rest of the planet. Alec typed in the password in the keypad beside the gate to open it and stepped outside. Alec squinted in an effort to see in the distance if there was anything of importance near the colony and was shocked to discover that there was nothing more than some sand dunes and rocks, and the Terrans that were setting up missile towers and bunkers.. " Why the hell would they bring us to this wasteland to defend a outpost that's little more than an outhouse!" thought Alec to himself angrily .  
  
Alec sat down on the flattest rock he could find and opened up his helmet, running his fingers through is matted graying hair. He looked up as the defenses were being set up , James and Dukan were talking together outside their vehicles while Matthew was telling jokes to other young Vulture pilots.Alec found himself alone more often these days, ever since Edward Buke went off to commandeer the Battlecruiser fleet Alec found it pointless to get attached to anyone. "The less you have the less you lose" said Alec to himself remembering his old teacher back in high school , it seemed to be centuries ago.  
  
"Alec! Hey over here" shouted a distant voice, Alec stood up and turned around to find the team medic Rebecca Owen running towards him waving.  
  
"Sorry I'm late, engine trouble. We overheated over there past those hills" she said pointing vaguely to the south at some boulders and sand dunes. "Did I miss anything yet?".  
  
"Nope- not yet we. well.. they are setting up the defenses for the base".  
  
Rebecca giggled and said with a smile "Why aren't you helping them? Couldn't be bothered?" She said grinning and placing her hands on her hips.  
  
"Actually I was waiting for you to show up, why were we sent here anyway?".  
  
"I don't I heard something about this base being important to the confederates, winning the Zerg, and stuff like that but that's about it." She shrugged and continued " I going to take a tour of this base and then maybe help set up, see you later Alec.".  
  
"Yea sure see you later Rebecca" said Alec glumly as he saluted her and walked away to aid in the building of a missile turret. 


End file.
